Show appointing THE DAY OF thanksgiving proclamation FROM THE WHITE WHIT E HOUSE IS ONE OF T THE HE MOST SERIOUS DUTIES treat DEVOLVE UPON THE PRESIDENT the only piece of 0 really pure literature ever officially issued from the white house is the proclamation appointing a day of thanksgiving g all other papers ty by the president are business documents the phraseology of 0 which is technical but this annual message to the people Is always a painstakingly worded and grateful composition A fairly illustrative example will be found in ia sir air Roosevel ts proclamation setting aside the last 0 i thursday ot of the present m month anth tor for the thanksgiving of 1906 it is the duty ottar loeb who runs the machinery of 0 the presidents business arranging all his en engagements age ments for him to call mr 11 Roosevel ts attention to the tact fact that thanksgiving approaches pro aches and to remind kini jiani that a proclamation must be written of course it requires considerable time to do this and so busy a 41 man as the chief exe executive cutie of 0 tile the nation might be excusable it if lie he handed over the task to some subordinate contenting himself hima self with affixing ills his sign signature ture but custom demands demanda that the shall be pei performed formed by the president himself accordingly when the proclamation has to be prepared the president devotes some ame me to thinking ag out a new shape in which to put the more or less stereotyped ideas which are to be expressed and as he does so jots down a few ew memoranda in pencil on a paper pad then touching a buzz button he summons one ot the dozen stenographers who are always in attendance and dictates to him ca carefully are fully the wording of 0 the document it is short not more than or words but daintily and tersely phrased this however is IE only a rough draft it is copied la in typescript by the stenographer lines twice the ordinary i d distance stance apart so as to be corrections and interlineations and in this shape is handed back to mr arr roosevelt lie ile alters ita it a alt modifying a sentence here and changing a word there until it suits him whereupon a fair copy is made again submitted tor for correction and finally bent over to the department part ment of state at the department ot of state the proclamation la Is beautifully engrossed on a great sheet of fine parchment by a clerk highly skilled in ittes atals kind of penmanship itis a consider considerable aole task and occupies some days at the end of which the document is sent back to the white I 1 louse house to receive the presidents signature and is thereupon returned to tile the department to be signed by the secretary of 0 state and sealed with the great seal of 0 the united states this seal by the way is a sort ef cf federal fetich it Is the most sacred of all things that belongs to the government ern ment and no print of it is ever allowed to lie be given away or sold though of course it is attached to all military and naval commissions and to various other executive documents it was made by a new york jeweler at a cost of and is kept in a beautiful rosewood box at the state department in order that it may be used tor for stamping the thanksgiving proclamation a printed order to that effect must be signed by mr noose velt veil ahe rhe department of state slate la is tire the permanent depository of executive proclamations mat ions all the thanksgiving proclamations lamat ions ever issued by the presidents ot of the united states are filed away in its arc archives lilves back even to 1793 1795 when george washington sa sc aside the day of february in that year as a date on which the people should thank god tor for exemption from foreign war and from insurrection consequently the engraved proclamation is retained by the department tor for keeps and it Is a copy that Is seal by special messenger to the govern ment printing office to be put inac type printed copies are given to the newspapers or to anybody who wants them but there must be typewritten copies tor for the governor of each state and territory of the union and these a are re made at the white house and mailed from there it will thus bo be seen that the issuing of the annual thanksgiving pro clama tion lion Is irom from beginning to end quite na an elaborate piece of business there is no law to compel the president to tc make it and mr roosevelt it he had so 50 chosen might have omitted lit it this year ar or during his administration or it it should seem proper to him next ear he might choose another day say the ot of january instead of the last thursday in november dut but it is reasonably certain that he will do dc neither ct c thesa things for custom holds fast in the bonds of usage the chief magistrate or of the nation equally with the plainest inest citizen As everybody knows the celebration ot thanksgiving day dates back to the puritans at irregular ine irie gular intervals after their arrival in this country they set dates by public announcement toi for prater braer and feasting in recognition ol 01 blessings vouchsafed front from on high following this example in the early earl 1 history of 0 the republic days of thanks giving were appointed by the president for or special reasons but somehow the pious custom fell ell into abeyance and for many yean there was no national thanksgiving until during the civil war a woman sarah josepha hale who edited a womans comans paper and who had been chiefly instrumental in raisins raising to complete the bunker hill monument took up the matter and persuaded abraham lincoln to take an interest in it thus it rame carne about that mr lincoln iss issued lied a proclamation i in n 1861 appointing the last day ot of november of that year as a day of prayer and rejoicing jo icing since then the custom has held and there has been an annual thanksgiving celebration for the on en tire nation at the instance of the president at the white house thanksgiving day Is always very iii rai etly spent without any special celebration barring tho the tact fact that each married man led member ot 0 the official staff including tho the po linemen who guarded the premises re ceides a fine turkey nearly 70 fat birds are distributed by col crook the executive paymaster who is him birl self an interesting personage inas much as lie he has been attached to the white house staff in various capaci ties since Lincol ns time mr roose velt elt usually has several turkeys which are sent to him ss as gifts rene bache in nagle eagle |